A circuit interrupter is essentially an electrical component or device designed to interrupt an electrical connection upon a predetermined flow of over-current, according to its rating, so as to avoid damage to a circuit or itself. Types of circuit interrupters include a fuse and a circuit breaker. A fuse is generally configured to automatically open an electrical connection to a circuit, and cannot be reset. A circuit breaker is generally configured to open and close a circuit by non-automatic means (e.g., a manual selector switch), and to automatically open an electrical connection to a circuit in response to an over-current condition. In contrast to a fuse, a circuit breaker is capable of being reset
A house or other building will typically have a series of circuit interrupters located at a common control or breaker panel. Each of the circuit interrupters is electrically connected to interrupt an over-flow of electrical power to a respective electrical circuit. When servicing an electrical system, it is often difficult to determine which of a series of circuit interrupters is connected to control electrical power to a circuit of interest, especially where there is a large amount of wiring or a lack of organized routing of the circuit wiring from the control panel.
Various known interrupter locator devices and methods have been employed by electricians to identify which circuit interrupter is associated with a selected circuit. A certain known interrupter locator is a two-piece device having a stimulator and a detector. The stimulator is configured to be plugged into an outlet and to modify the flow of electrical power in that particular circuit. To modify the flow of electrical power, the stimulator either introduces a signal into the circuit or draws a large amount of current repetitively for a short duration. Meanwhile, at the control panel, an operator passes the detector over the series of circuit interrupters. Upon detecting the presence of the introduced signal at a particular circuit interrupter, the detector emits an alert indicative of the location of the selected circuit interrupter connected to the selected circuit of interest.
However, the above-described interrupter locator device has several drawbacks. For example, the two-piece locator device described above lacks specificity. In particular, the detector does not have the ability to positively identify with absolute certainty the one-and-only circuit interrupter associated with the selected circuit introduced with the signal. Thus, the operator does not have total confidence that the located circuit interrupter is associated with the selected circuit. A large amount of wiring leading to the control panel and a lack of organized routing of the circuit wiring can exacerbate a lack of confidence that the operator has in the detector of the two-piece locator device in identifying the circuit interrupter associated with the selected circuit of interest from the series of other circuit interrupters associated with the other circuits.
Another known device and method of locating a circuit interrupter associated with a selected circuit includes employing a first operator to plug a lamp or other indicating load at a remote outlet electrically connected to or part of the selected circuit of interest. A second operator at the control panel then begins to sequentially actuate each of the circuit interrupters (e.g., circuit breakers) between the OFF and then ON positions. When the lamp is turned off, the first operator provides a vocal alert (usually by yelling at a necessary substantial volume), or uses a communication device such as a walkie-talkie, so as to announce the event of the lamp turning off to the second operator. An obvious drawback of this known method is that it requires a two-person crew. Furthermore, the vocal alert associated with this method can be difficult to hear in noisy environments, disruptive to work environments that are not typically noisy, and inefficient to perform.